Sci Fi and Fantasy Review

The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny

2005-12-16T05:35:00.000-08:00

At the suggestion of Rich, Today I'll be reviewing Amber series by Roger Zelazny.

"Nine Princes in Amber" is the first in a series of ten books chronicling the ever-feuding bloodlines of the House of Amber -- the true kingdom of Order in the Universe -- and the struggle with its eternal nemesis: the Courts of Chaos. Corwin, the anti-hero is used as the basis for the first five books, while Merlin, his son narrates the second set.

The first book starts off with Corwin, an amnesiac who is almost killed. The first half of the book details his struggle to regain his memory, while the second half shows how he tries to gain revenge against his manipulative and power hungry royal family. It turns out he is one of many offspring of Oberon and since Oberon has gone missing, his brother Eric has taken the throne. Corwin was exiled as a threat to the throne.

Corwin is long-lived (eternal?), powerful (magical), and wry. He's a typical antihero who has to deal with powerful foes (in this case his extended family). As a prince of Amber, Corwin can travel between Amber, Chaos and all of its shadows by manipulating reality. All other existence (including Earth) are just shadows of Amber, the immortal city from which every other city has taken its shape. He can also use magical playing cards to communicate and travel instantaneously.

The second series follows Corwin's son Merlin as he struggles to find Corwin. Of course, Merlin has to deal with the same political backstabbing his father had to deal with. But Merlin gets to do more, as a prince and master of both Amber and Chaos, his track will take him back and forth into the light and the dark.

Many readers have complained that the series goes on too long and the ending is disappointing. None, however, would deny that it's filled with fascinating ideas, complex characters, and action-adventure. Don't miss a chance to make up your own mind. --Nona Vero

You can read more reviews on Roger Zelazny's powerful Amber Series at Amazon. Just click on the book above.

The Shadow of Saganami by David Weber

2005-11-02T06:32:00.000-08:00

This is the second of David Weber's honorverse books that don't involve Honor Harrington, except peripherally. This book follows the Hexapuma into the newly discovered Cluster where the constitution convention is occuring.

In this book, you learn more about what was going on and why the Cluster decided they wanted to be annexed by the Star Kingdom of Manticore. And the reason is simple, they don't want to be forcibly annexed by the Solarian League instead. But in the space opera that is the honorverse, the Solarian League is not going to give up that easily.

What makes this book work is the single ship aspect that Honor has been promoted out of. What doesn't work as well is following so many characters at once. It's harder to care about everyone that enters into the picture. You spend 20 pages learning about a character's motivation, you start to care about what they are about and why they are doing things, but then you don't see them for another 100 pages. This style of writing can lead to a disconnect between the reader and the characters.

But, it's still a good book, and I recommend the series as a whole. It's simple, space opera that is about acting honorably in a world that isn't so honorable. The bad guys tend to be paper cut-outs without alot of greyspace. The good guys tend to be the same.

The book description follows:
The Star Kingdom has a new generation of officers! And this elite group hand-picked and trained by Honor Harrington herself is going to be needed immediately, as their first assignment turns out to be more dangerous than anyone expected. What was supposed to be a quiet outpost, far from the blazing conflict between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven has actually been targeted by an unholy alliance between the slaveholders of Manpower, the rival star kingdoms of Mesa and Monica, and the bureaucrats of the Solarian League. The alliance stands to benefit if the Havenites defeat Manticore, and are preparing for a surprise attack from the rear to divide Manticore's forces, which are already strained nearly to their limits. With their captain, the young Manticoran officers will risk their careers, if not their lives, on an unauthorized mission to expose and counter the threat to their Star Kingdom. Follow their journey as they show what they're made of as New York Times best-selling author David Weber begins a new series that will be a must for the hundreds of thousands of Honor Harrington fans.

Other books by David Weber I've reviewed: Wind Rider's Oath, The Honor of the Queen, On Basilisk Station

Chainfire by Terry Goodkind

2005-10-13T13:36:00.000-07:00

The latest (ninth) novel in the Sword of Truth series has Kahlan being taken from Richard (again). Only this time, only Richard remembers who she is. D'Hara is being threatened by the Imperial Order and the Emperor Jagang. Richard hunts for Kahlan by trading the Sword of Truth to Shota (the witch) who sends him off to find Chainfire. The Sisters of the Dark have stolen two of the three boxes of Orden, seeking to call the Keeper of the Dead to life.

Basically a disappointment for fans everywhere. These lengthy series tend to drag out in the middle. Hopefully, things will pick up again in the next book, but I'm beginning to doubt it.

Description follows:
On the day she awoke remembering nothing but her name, Kahlan Amnell became the most dangerous woman alive. For everyone else, that was the day that the world began to end.

As her husband, Richard, desperately searches for his beloved, whom only he remembers, he knows that if she doesn't soon discover who she really is, she will unwittingly become the instrument that will unleash annihilation. But Kahlan learns that if she ever were to unlock the truth of her lost identity, then evil itself would finally possess her, body and soul.

If she is to survive in a murky world of deception and betrayal, where life is not only cheap but fleeting, Kahlan must find out why she is such a central figure in the war-torn world swirling around her. What she uncovers are secrets darker than she could ever have imagined.

The Two Swords (Forgotten Realms: Hunters Blades Trilogy) by R.A. Salvatore

2005-10-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

Drizzt Do’Urden returns in the third and final book in this series: The Thousand Orcs and The Lone Drow being the first two.

As The Two Swords begins, newly ressurected dwarven King Bruenor Bruenor Battlehammer and his subjects are sealed in Mithral Hall. Beyond their gate lies the slavering orc army of King Obould Many Arrows, who schemes beyond the mere death of dwarves and seeks to establish an honest-to-Gruumsh kingdom--the Kingdom of Dark Arrows--at the foot of Mithral Hall. Meanwhile, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden still believes his dear companions dead and seeks to exact his vengeance on the mighty orc king.

One major complaint about this book is it's inability to conclude the series. Basically, it becomes a setup for the next trilogy instead. Some minor characters are killed off, and Drizzt makes a decision about Cattie-Brie. Other than that, there's a lot of soul searching and battle scenes. Typical Drizzt stuff.

Why should you buy it? If you want to know what Drizzt has been up to (and he is a very popular character) you need to read this book. Most fans of the Forgotten Realms recognize Salvatore as one of the top writers. It's always entertaining. But if you're looking for a final resolution, you're just not going to find it here.

Creating the Worlds of Star Wars : 365 Days by John Knoll

2005-10-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

Filled with behind the scenes photos of all 6 movies, this is a must have for Star Wars fans.
The only book that covers all six films, Star Wars: 365 Days is Knoll's spectacular survey of the visual world created by those films. It shows us George Lucas and his crew creating their universe on location and in the studio-in pages dense with imagery and information, documenting a remarkable sustained creative effort by hundreds of devoted filmmakers and craftsmen. A CD-ROM, with nearly 100 QuickTime panoramas of the sets, adds to the beauty of this edition.

Promise of the Witch King (Forgotten Realms: The Sellswords) by R.A. Salvatore

2005-10-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

I've always enjoyed the books by R.A. Salvatore, and this series is no exception.

Jarlaxle Baenre, the drow elf, is once again on the trail to rollicking adventure in bestseller Salvatore's follow-up to Servant of the Shard (2000). At the behest of the dragon sisters Ilnezhara and Tazmikella, Jarlaxle and his assassin companion, Artemis Entreri, travel to far-off Vaasa in search of an unknown artifact belonging to the Witch-King Zhengyi. The intrepid pair infiltrate the Army of Bloodstone at the Vaasan Gate, becoming part of the elite group of seasoned fighters who defend the gate from goblins, ogres, bugbears and other monsters. Salvatore keeps the action hopping as the duo use every trick in their repertoire to achieve their goal—finding magical treasure hidden by the long-dead Witch-King.

To be released on October 25, 2005

A Feast for Crows by George R,R, Martin

2005-10-04T06:14:00.000-07:00

A Feast for Crows is the fourth book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga by George R.R. Martin.

It seems too good to be true. After centuries of bitter strife and fatal treachery, the seven powers dividing the land have decimated one another into an uneasy truce. Or so it appears....With the death of the monstrous King Joffrey, Cersei is ruling as regent in King’s Landing. Robb Stark’s demise has broken the back of the Northern rebels, and his siblings are scattered throughout the kingdom like seeds on barren soil. Few legitimate claims to the once desperately sought Iron Throne still exist--or they are held in hands too weak or too distant to wield them effectively. The war, which raged out of control for so long, has burned itself out.

But as in the aftermath of any climactic struggle, it is not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters start to gather, picking over the bones of the dead and fighting for the spoils of the soon-to-be dead. Now in the Seven Kingdoms, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed, while surprising faces--some familiar, others only just appearing--are seen emerging from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges ahead.

It is a time when the wise and the ambitious, the deceitful and the strong will acquire the skills, the power, and the magic to survive the stark and terrible times that lie before them. It is a time for nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages to come together and stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests--but only a few are the survivors.

The following was taken from Martin's website. Looks like the fourth book is really the fourth book, part 1 with part 2 being worked on.

No, I haven't finished writing everything I wanted to include in A FEAST FOR CROWS. I have wrapped up a whole bunch of characters and storylines since the last update in January, but "a whole bunch" does not equate to "all."

And I was facing another problem as well: the sheer size of the book.

All of the books in this series have been big, mind you. A GAME OF THRONES weighed in at 1088 pages in manuscript, not counting the appendices. A CLASH OF KINGS was even longer at 1184 pages, not counting the appendices. And A STORM OF SWORDS measured a gargantuan 1521 pages in manuscript, not counting the (etc).

Any publisher will tell you that a book as big as A STORM OF SWORDS is a production nightmare, and STORM did indeed cause problems for many of my publishers around the world. In some languages it was divided into two, three, or even four volumes. Bantam published STORM in a single volume in the United States, but not without difficulty. Pretty much everyone agreed that it would be a really good thing if the fourth volume in the series came in somewhat shorter than STORM, so I set out with the idea of delivering a FEAST closer in length to A CLASH OF KINGS.

Alas for good intentions. In hindsight, I should have known better. The story makes its own demands, as Tolkien once said, and my story kept demanding to get bigger and more complicated.

I passed A CLASH OF KINGS last year, and still had plenty more to write. By January, I had more than 1300 pages, and still had storylines unfinished. About three weeks ago I hit 1527 pages of final draft, surpassing A STORM OF SWORDS... but I also had another hundred or so pages of roughs and incomplete chapters, as well as other chapters sketched out but entirely unwritten. That was when I realized that the light I'd seen at the end of the tunnel was actually the headlight of an onrushing locomotive.

And that's why my publishers and I, after much discussion and weighing of alternatives, have decided to split the narrative into two books (printing in microtype on onion skin paper and giving each reader a magnifying glass was not considered feasible, and I was reluctant to make the sort of deep cuts that would have been necessary to get the book down to a more publishable length, which I felt would have compromised the story).

The first plan was simply to lop the text in half. In that scenario, I would finish the last few chapters in as short a length (and time) as possible. That would have produced a story of maybe 1650 to 1700 pages in manuscript, which we would simply have broken into two chunks of roughly equal length and published as A FEAST FOR CROWS, Part One and A FEAST FOR CROWS, Part Two.

We decided not to do that. It was my feeling -- and I pushed hard for this, so if you don't like the solution, blame me, not my publishers -- that we were better off telling all the story for half the characters, rather than half the story for all the characters. Cutting the novel in half would have produced two half-novels; our approach will produce two novels taking place simultaneously, but set hundreds or even thousands of miles apart, and involving different casts of characters (with some overlap).

The division has been done, and it think it works quite well. The upshot is, A FEAST FOR CROWS is now moving into production. It is still a long book, but not too long; about the same size as A GAME OF THRONES. The focus in FEAST will be on Westeros, King's Landing, the riverlands, Dorne, and the Iron Islands. More than that I won't say.

Meanwhile, all the characters and stories removed from FEAST are moving right into A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, which will focus on events in the east and north. All the chapters I have not yet finished and/or begun are moving into DANCE. I think this is very good, if truth be told, since it will give me the room to complete those arcs as I had originally intended, rather than trying to tie them up quickly in a chapter or two so I could deliver the massively late Big FEAST.

So there it is. I know some of you may be disappointed, especially when you buy A FEAST FOR CROWS and discover that your favorite character does not appear, but given the realities I think this was the best solution... and the more I look at it, the more convinced I am that these two parallel novels, when taken together, will actually tell the story better than one big book.

And if there are those who don't agree, and still want their Big FEAST with all the trimmings set out on one huge table... well, there's an easy fix. Get both books, razor the pages out with an Exacto knife, interleave the chapters as you think best, and bring the towering stack of text that results to your favorite bookbinder... and presto, chango the Big FEAST will live again.

As for me, I am getting back to work. There's good news on that front too -- A DANCE WITH DRAGONS is half-done!!!

(And before anyone asks, yes indeed, this development means that Parris was right all along. It will now probably require seven books to complete the story).

—George R.R. Martin, May 29, 2005

The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

2005-10-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

Book DescriptionAll seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia are now available together in a hardcover volume which includes an essay by C. S. Lewis, “On Three Ways of Writing for Children,” where he explains precisely how the magic of Narnia first came to life.

Since its release in the middle of the last century, the Chronicles of Narnia have enchanted over sixty million readers—children, as well as adults. This new hardcover edition for adults includes all seven books, plus C. S. Lewis’s essay, "On Three Ways of Writing for Children."

About the AuthorC. S. Lewis (1898-1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably the most influential Christian writer of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English literature at Oxford University until 1954 when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. His major contributions in literary criticism, children’s literature, fantasy literature, and popular theology brought him international renown and acclaim. He wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. His most distinguished and popular accomplishments include The Chronicles of Narnia, Out of the Silent Planet, The Four Loves, The Screwtape Letters, and Mere Christianity.

Straken (High Druid of Shannara, Book 3) by Terry Brooks

2005-10-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

The High Druid of Shannara trilogy draws to a thrilling close as a young hero nears completion of his trial by fire, a banished ruler fights for her life in a wilderness of dread, and forces of darkness and light square off in a battle unto death for the right to absolute rule. Prepare to be spellbound by the masterly hand of bestselling legend weaver Terry Brooks, conjuring at the peak of his skills.

For reasons known only to himself, the King of the Silver River has charged young Penderrin Ohmsford, barely more than a boy, with the daunting task of rescuing his aunt, Grianne, Ard Rhys of the Druid order, from her forced exile in the terrifying dimension of all things damned: the Forbidding. With the noble dwarf Tagwen and the prodigal elven princess Khyber Elessedil by his side–and with the outcome of the bloody war between the Federation and the Free-born at stake–Pen has accepted his mission without question. But not without risk . . . or sacrifice.

Because Shadea a’Ru, the ruthless Druid responsible for imprisoning the true Ard Rhys and usurping leadership at Paranor, has sent her agents and assassins in relentless pursuit of Pen and his comrades. And in securing the talisman he needs to breach the Forbidding, Pen has paid a devastating price. Now if the Free-born forces–already decimated by the Federation’s death-dealing new weapon–should fall, Shadea’s domination of the Four Lands will be assured. Nothing short of Pen’s success can turn the tide.

But Pen’s challenge grows greater when he learns that his parents, Bek Ohmsford and Rue Meridian, have fallen into Shadea’s hands. He must try to help them–but once within the walls of Druid’s Keep, where Shadea’s minions and dark magic lurk at every turn, Pen’s survival is far from assured. Yet it will all pale in comparison to the horrors that wait inside the Forbidding–horrors poised to break free upon the Four Lands when the time is right. . . .

Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

2005-10-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

The Wheel of Time turns, and Robert Jordan gives us the eleventh volume of his extraordinary masterwork of fantasy.The dead are walking, men die impossible deaths, and it seems as though reality itself has become unstable: All are signs of the imminence of Tarmon Gai’don, the Last Battle, when Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, must confront the Dark One as humanity’s only hope.
But Rand dares not fight until he possesses all the surviving seals on the Dark One’s prison and has dealt with the Seanchan, who threaten to overrun all nations this side of the Aryth Ocean and increasingly seem too entrenched to be fought off. But his attempt to make a truce with the Seanchan is shadowed by treachery that may cost him everything. Whatever the price, though, he must have that truce. And he faces other dangers. There are those among the Forsaken who will go to any length to see him dead--and the Black Ajah is at his side.
Unbeknownst to Rand, Perrin has made his own truce with the Seanchan. It is a deal made with the Dark One, in his eyes, but he will do whatever is needed to rescue his wife, Faile, and destroy the Shaido who captured her. Among the Shaido, Faile works to free herself while hiding a secret that might give her her freedom or cause her destruction. And at a town called Malden, the Two Rivers longbow will be matched against Shaido spears.
Fleeing Ebou Dar through Seanchan-controlled Altara with the kidnapped Daughter of the Nine Moons, Mat attempts to court the woman to whom he is half-married, knowing that she will complete that ceremony eventually. But Tuon coolly leads him on a merry chase as he learns that even a gift can have deep significance among the Seanchan Blood and what he thinks he knows of women is not enough to save him. For reasons of her own, which she will not reveal until a time of her choosing, she has pledged not to escape, but Mat still sweats whenever there are Seanchan soldiers near. Then he learns that Tuon herself is in deadly danger from those very soldiers. To get her to safety, he must do what he hates worse than work.
In Caemlyn, Elayne fights to gain the Lion Throne while trying to avert what seems a certain civil war should she win the crown.
In the White Tower, Egwene struggles to undermine the sisters loyal to Elaida from within.
The winds of time have become a storm, and things that everyone believes are fixed in place forever are changing before their eyes. Even the White Tower itself is no longer a place of safety. Now Rand, Perrin and Mat, Egwene and Elayne, Nynaeve and Lan, and even Loial, must ride those storm winds, or the Dark One will triumph.

Key words: Robert Jordan, fantasy, fun, series, Rand Al'Thor, Egwene, Mat, Perrin, exciting battle, swords, horses, magic, Ajah.

Wind Rider's Oath by David Weber

2005-09-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Wind Rider's Oath is the third book in a series on the life of one Bahzell Banahkson. In the first book, Bahzell is recruited by the War God (second in power on the side of good) to become one of his champions. Unfortunately for Bahzell, there hasn't been a hradini in several centuries. But, the war god never promised it would be easy.

Hradini are tall humanoids with fox-like ears. Although in ages past they were the most peaceful of people, now they suffer from a curse. The cures they call "the rage". Recruited by mages, they were tormented and twisted. With their berserker ability coupled with their amazing healing powers, they become the shock troops for the dark. Now they are universally feared and rightly so.

In The War God's Own, Bahzell had managed to stop a war by convincing Baron Tellian, leader of the Sothoii, to "surrender" to him, the War God's champion. Now, he has journeyed to the Sothoii Wind Plain to oversee the parole he granted to Tellian and his men, to represent the Order of Tomanak, the War God, and to be an ambassador for the hradani. What's more, the flying coursers of the Sothoii have accepted Bahzell as a wind rider-the first hradani wind rider in history. And since the wind riders are the elite of the elite among the Sothoii, Bahzell's ascension is as likely to stir resentment as respect. That combination of duties would have been enough to keep anyone busy-even a warrior prince like Bahzell-but additional complications are bubbling under the surface. The goddess Shigu, the Queen of Hell, is sowing dissension among the war maids of the Sothoii. The supporters of the deposed Sothoii noble who started the war are plotting to murder their new leige lord and frame Bahzell for the deed. Of course, those problems are all in a day's work for a champion of the War God. But what is Bahzell going to do about the fact that Baron Tellian's daughter, and heir to the realm, seems to be thinking that he is the only man-or hradani-for her?

If you'd like to read the first 12 chapters, go to Baen's free library.

Key words: David Weber, fantasy, fun, series, bahzell, exciting battle, swords, horses, wind riders.

Thud by Terry Pratchett

2005-09-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

As with all 30 of his previous works set in Discworld, Thud! is a satirical look at society and what it means to live. With 30 previous books, I would suggest reading some of the previous books based on the Watch of Ankh-Morpork. Otherwise you'll be missing out on half the fun with all the insider jokes.

Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch admits he may not be the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer -- he might not even be a spoon. But he's dogged and honest and he'll be damned if he lets anyone disturb his city's always-tentative peace -- and that includes a rabble-rousing dwarf from the sticks (or deep beneath them) who's been stirring up big trouble on the eve of the anniversary of one of Discworld's most infamous historical events.

Centuries earlier, in a gods-forsaken hellhole called Koom Valley, a horde of trolls met a division of dwarfs in bloody combat. Though nobody's quite sure why they fought or who actually won, hundreds of years on each species still bears the cultural scars, and one views the other with simmering animosity and distrust. Lately, an influential dwarf, Grag Hamcrusher, has been fomenting unrest among Ankh-Morpork's more diminutive citizens with incendiary speeches. And it doesn't help matters when the pint-size provocateur is discovered beaten to death ... with a troll club lying conveniently nearby.

Vimes knows the well-being of his smoldering city depends on his ability to solve the Hamcrusher homicide without delay. (Vimes's secondmost-pressing responsibility, in fact, next to being home every evening at six sharp to read Where's My Cow? to Young Sam.) Whatever it takes to unstick this very sticky situation, Vimes will do it -- even tolerate having a vampire in the Watch. But there's more than one corpse waiting for him in the eerie, summoning darkness of the vast, labyrinthine mine network the dwarfs have been excavating in secret beneath Ankh-Morpork's streets. A deadly puzzle is pulling Sam Vimes deep into the muck and mire of superstition, hatred, and fear -- and perhaps all the way to Koom Valley itself.

The Honor of the Queen by David Weber

2005-09-23T14:01:00.000-07:00

This time, the politicians have a new assignment for Honor. In order to combat the expanding People's Republic of Haven (the Peeps), Manticore has decided to work on establishing allies with the neighbors. So, Honor is charged with leading a squadron to Grayson, a planet with a very religious patriarchal society.

Once there, she's supposed to uphold "the honor of the Queen" by accompanying the envoy who happens to be her old mentor from school, Admiral Courvosier. By showing off their technological advances, Manticore hopes to entice Grayson into signing a mutual defense treaty. The Grayson's want to, not only because the Peeps are threatening, but their natural enemies from Masada are slso threatening. And the Faithful from Masada make Grayson's religious views seem downright open and inviting.

When bigots threaten to derail the mission, Honor decides that for the missions sake, she should absent herself for a few weeks. While she is away, however, Admiral Courvosier is killed in an attack from Masada. Overwhelmed by guilt over her mentor's death, surrounded by bigots who think serving in any armed forces is a man's job, threatened with an invasion by religious fanatics from Masada, ordered to leave Grayson by the next senior diplomat, what's Honor going to do?

David Weber's second in the Honor series (I review the first one here) broadens our horizons by taking a more in depth look at Honor's universe. As with the first book, the action is tense and thrilling. Also, this book is an improvement over the first book in it's character development for the good guys. But, having said that, the villains are still just caricatures. That changes in later books as Weber gets a chance to develop more realistic, more human, opposition%2

On Basilisk Station by David Weber

2005-09-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

On Basilisk Station is the first book in a series about Honor Harrington.

She's a newly promoted captain about to be put in charge of her first cruiser in the Royal Manticoran Navy (RMN). She, and her empath treecat Nimitz, are excited to finally be where she has trained all these years to be.

Unfortunately, the cruiser in question has been gutted for refit by an experimental armament that, while it looks good on paper, is hardly practical. Political movement and one set of fleet manuevers later where the experiment fails, demoralizes her crew. And to make things worse, they are banished to an out of the way picket (Basilisk).

Her local superior, one Pavel Young, son of the Earl of North Hollow and scum of the universe, quickly abandons her and heads back home, leaving her in charge of a situation that is quickly getting out of hand. The People's Republic of Haven (Peeps), an ever expanding welfare nation, is looking to expand into Manticore's neigborhood. The local aborigines are revolting. And the only thing stopping them is one beat up, ancient cruiser led by our heroine, Honor.

David Weber set out to pay homage to Horatio Hornblower written by C. S. Forester (notice that even the initials are the same) and he did just that. Honor is a direct copy of Horatio, only in space. Honor, like Horatio before her, is an officer in a royal navy with stellar principles and a character defining sense of duty. She's honest, direct and able to get the most out of her crew even when her crew wants nothing to do with her.

While this book is not the best of the series, it serves as a greate introduction to the 'honorverse'. It's rules, physics, fleets, ships, propulsion, battles, and politics are explained in enough detail that you can then jump right into any other book set in Honor's universe. And, perhaps best of all, it's free! That's right. You can go read it right now at Baen's free library. But let me warn you now, if you like space battles, honorable characters set in a dishonorable world, greedy villains, and empath cats, you'll end up buying the whole series!

Key words: Honor Harrington, David Weber, light space opera, series, science fiction, space battles, navy, honor and integrity, leadership, exciting, heroine.